1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide system and, more particularly, to an object guide system available for medical, amusement or other uses.
2. Description of the Related Art
A surgeon has to prepare two-dimensional cross-sectional images of a computed tomography (CT) or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of a patient before surgery. After inspecting the two-dimensional images, the surgeon rebuilds three-dimensional images and imagines the location of the patient's lesion, so as to program the surgical contents, including entry points, cutting direction and depth. In the surgery, the surgeon searches the patient's lesion with the naked eye or by aid of a microscope. If the patient's lesion is deeply embedded in the normal brain tissues, the surgeon has to search the patient's lesion and cut the normal tissue simultaneously.
For solving the above-mentioned problems, the Brain LAB introduced a Vector-Vision surgical navigation system which includes a computer host movable on the floor and provided with castors, a monitor mounted on the computer host, two robot arms, two digital video cameras mounted on the robot arms respectively, a surgical instrument, and a positioning device (such as at least one positioning ball) mounted on the surgical instrument.
When in use, the two-dimensional cross-sectional images of the computed tomography or nuclear magnetic resonance of the patient are loaded into the computer host before surgery. Then, the computer host rebuilds and calculates the input data to obtain a three-dimensional image which is shown in the monitor, wherein the position of the patient's lesion and many characteristic coordinates are labeled in the three-dimensional image to function as the basis of the practical alignment of the patient during operation and the lesion positioning standard location.
The positioning device includes a plurality of fluorescent components which represent the point coordinates of the target (the surgical instrument). The digital video cameras simulate the spatial vision of the two eyes, monitor and capture the images of the fluorescent components, and transmit the captured image information to the computer host which calculates and obtains the relative distance, direction and angle between the surgical instrument and the patient's lesion, and further obtains the coordinate locations of the surgical instrument in the operation space. Thus, when the surgical instrument approaches the patient's lesion or when the direction and angle are under a wrong condition, the computer host will emit an alarm signal through the monitor (which emits a message) or an external sounder (which emits a warning sound).
The digital video cameras successively detect the positioning device during the surgery. The computer host calculates and derives the instantaneous coordinates, direction and angle of the surgical instrument. In addition, the computer host stores the previously obtained relative information of the surgical instrument. Thus, a picture simulating operation of the surgical instrument is added in the spatial image to provide a reference to the surgeon so as to facilitate the surgeon proceeding the surgical operation.